The story of a retired crazy who seems to be able to find one adventure after another.

We do the TSD early in the morning. It’s the usual stage in the airport area of Fairbanks which has both a water strip for the float planes and a grass strip for the back country tail-draggers. Something for everyone. Including blocked roads for construction that the stage route instructions doesn’t know anything about.

We do a checkpoint for the TSD and end up missing some very reliable competitors that have gotten lost in the construction blockages and abandoned the stage. It looks like everyone has had just about enough of the rally for this year. Back to the hotel and meet up with Diamond Jim who is driving my truck back to Seattle while I take a side trip to Sebring for the enduro.

I get the oil change done at a local Ford dealer and then find DEF fluid for the truck in a Walmart. I don’t really like shopping in Walmart (ask me sometime about my recurring nightmare of getting stuck in a Walmart overnight) but there are ubiquitous when you’re traveling in North America. And the have DEF at an astoundingly low price. Whatever.

The rally ends today and the awards banquet is tonight at the Featherhead Car Museum tonight. I take the rest of the afternoon to atch up on email and my blog. Take a shower and get dressed for the banquet. Clean slacks. Fresh laundry courtesy of Colin. Flofida shirt and pith helmet leftover from the Bourgas rally years ago.

We wak over to the museum and get a few drinks while we wander about marveling at the labor of love for these remarkable restored antiques. A great buffet. Then the awards and pictures. And good byes and promises to stay in touch. Another Alcan down.

It’s great to see the happy faces especially for the competitors that suffered and failed and succeeded and pushed themselves to places they didn’t even know about a mere 10 days ago. The promises to come back and even try the winter Alcan.

Back to the hotel with full intentions to go straight to bed. That intention, of course, crumbles at the first invite for a nightcap. But eventually I make it to bed. Sleep in tomorrow and the head to the airport for the flight to Tampa.